The perfect match or more resolve?

There are many aspects to the role technology plays in our lives. People argue whether it has really made life better.

If you think about it, the role technology plays in our relationships has increased significantly from the days when matchmakers divined the lives those who would spend their lives together. The science behind it all is so much broader than the simplicity of two land-owning families wanting to “marry” their assets to enhance the fortunes of their successors (or so it seemed).

The idea you can find your perfect “match” must be very appealing considering the divorce rate in today’s world. Getting it right could save you a lot of lost time, money and anguish.

What has not been revealed is whether the geographic boundaries we observe need to be tossed out entirely. It seems these services tend to focus on the same old homogenized standards of aligning people. What if the best match for you is in some tiny village near Tibet?

Language barriers shouldn’t really be an issue as long as the 37-point criteria developed by experts are met. Thinking even deeper here, if someday time travel is realized perhaps the match you were really supposed to meet lived in another era entirely. I know some people who are stuck in different eras just as much as you do.

Why must they be trapped in such predicaments when true “happiness” is what they really deserve? A tragic plight indeed.

Maybe Cleopatra was more suited for a 20th century man?

For me it seems we have just touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to matching what ought to be matched.

Think of it, matched with your perfect waiter or store clerk where you do business. No anxiety wondering if you will get stuck with that person who drives you crazy every time you visit a store. What about jobs? Get matched with your perfect boss and live in a harmony one could only have dreamed about two years ago in the technology-starved short-sighted past.

Your animals would be in on the game too. You won’t get stuck with a condescending cat if what you really need is a toy puppy that is in need of the kind of affection you are uniquely prepared to offer.

Kids are a little tougher. It is the one area of life where little is left to choice. You hear people lament sometimes “you can’t divorce your children,” but with the advent of choices in this life it seems even for those who for such things hope springs eternal. In fairness we probably hear more about the desires of children who wish to be divorced from their parents than the other way around.

I have the unusual blessing of having watched both sets of my grandparents live full lives and long marriages. My paternal grandparents were married more than 70 years while my maternal grandparents are approaching their 70th anniversary this year on Christmas day.

To my knowledge their relationships were not engineered by science or technology. I’m not sure they ever wondered if they were paired with their perfect match or gave much thought to whether they chose correctly.

I asked my grandmother Patsy once on the occasion of her 69th anniversary what the secret was to staying married so long. She replied instantly in a passive but reflective voice, “Well, you’ve got to stay alive.”

Perhaps in this post-modern world, for some things we need less science, more resolve and less pursuit of perfect.